Big Lottery Fund

Royals join forces with BIG to support veterans

The Forces in Mind Trust (FIMT) has launched with a £35 million investment from the Big Lottery Fund and royal backing from The Foundation of Prince William and Prince Harry to bring support to former UK military and their families.

The Forces in Mind Trust is a partnership of UK forces charities and mental health organisations led by the Confederation of Service Charities (COBSEO). Over the next 20 years the trust will provide UK-wide long-term support and advocacy for service personnel and veterans to make a successful transition to civilian life. The focus will be on addressing a range of problems that some ex-service personnel and their families can experience back in civilian life, such as poor mental health, family breakdown and alcohol-related problems.

The Foundation of Prince William and Prince Harry will back the trust with its own grants over a three-year programme as well as helping raise awareness of the issues facing veterans.

Visit our website for more information and a film about the Forces in Mind Trust.

Building Capabilities for Impact and Legacy

Helping VCS organisations and social enterprises to become more effective will continue to be a priority for BIG over the next few years.

To develop our thinking, we have published a discussion paper. This paper is for voluntary sector and social enterprise managers working in both frontline and infrastructure support and development organisations. It sets out our approach to ‘building capabilities within voluntary organisations’, and gives an opportunity for voluntary and other organisations to influence this approach.

This is your chance to have your say. This paper can be viewed on our website, along with an online survey. The survey will run until 15 March 2012, and will help us to decide how best to allocate at least £20 million over the next three years in this area of work.

Sussex parks to be restored thanks to Lottery funding

Worth Park in Crawley and The Level in Brighton have been awarded over £4.5m to restore them to their former glory.

Brighton and Hove City Council will use the £2.2m grant to transform The Level and create a welcoming family friendly space for residents and visitors to the city. Plans include an exciting new water feature to replace the original boating pond, restoring the rose walk and creating a new sensory garden and pétanque area. The children’s playground will be upgraded and a new environmentally friendly building will provide much needed public toilets, staff and café facilities.

The project also includes plenty of opportunities for volunteers to get involved, from helping to record and present the parks heritage for others to enjoy to looking after the new flower beds.

Meanwhile, Crawley Borough Council has a received a £2.42m grant to return Worth Park to its former Victorian glory. The funding will be used to restore and enhance the area and ensure that more people visit and enjoy this historic park.

The work will include the restoration of key features of the park such as Ridley’s Court, the fountain, yew tree topiary and the Camellia Walk. The project will encourage community involvement and create more attractions for children such as a discovery trail.

Parks for People is a joint initiative between the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) and the Big Lottery Fund. For more information on how to apply visit the HLF website.

£1.3 million helping hand for South East youth and families

Recent Reaching Communities grants to projects in the South East are helping to get 2012 off to a positive start. More than £1.3 million has been awarded to projects to help young people acquire the skills to get work and help families cope with living on low incomes.

Slough YMCA has been awarded £284,289 for their ‘Hangout’ community centre. The Hangout will be open five days a week, offering activities for people aged from six to 25 which may include indoor and outdoor sports, computer activities, art and music sessions, day trips and healthy eating classes. There will also be courses covering literary, numeracy, CV writing and one-to-one support with youth workers.

Meanwhile Amicus Horizon Ltd will use a grant of £291,792 to revive a project that improves the life chances of unemployed people and adults on low wages, giving them access to community development schemes and build social networks.

Disabled people, lone parents, and other groups will benefit from workshops covering conservation, car maintenance, IT skills, cooking, beauty and archery which will give them experiences of learning new skills.

Amicus Horizon Ltd also has a grant of £262,659 to help 250 people in Swale to overcome barriers to finding work. They will take part in motivational workshops such as mock interviews and team working skills to challenge fears.

Home-Start Wokingham has been awarded a £300,000 grant to expand its work supporting families with young children who are struggling to cope or are at crisis point. Families from Wokingham will be matched with trained volunteers to tackle post-natal depression, isolation, multiple births, physical or mental health problems, relationship breakdowns and having a parent in prison.

Finally, a project to strengthen community cohesion in Slough has been awarded £191,355. Aik Saath has volunteers from a variety of faiths and backgrounds who will deliver programmes in schools and colleges to improve communication and public speaking skills. The programme also aims to dispel myths about race and cultures.

To find out more about applying to Reaching Communities please visit our website

49 projects celebrate the New Year with Awards for All funding

In December 49 projects in the South East shared grants totalling £408,778 from our small grants Awards for All programme.

Here are a just few of the projects that have been funded.

The Woodcraft Folk Chaos Venturers group in West Sussex will use its £7,365 grant for its Winter Wonderland project. Young people aged between 13 and 16 years old will brave the cold to camp in a yurt, a wooden home of the kind used by people in Central Asia.

Nicky Hedgecock, a group leader at Woodcraft Folk Chaos Venturers, said: “It’s tempting just to stay in and not venture outside when it’s cold. Once you can convince young people out of their comfort zone they realise there can be fun, rewarding and character-building experiences in the countryside. This yurt will be a warm place to sleep, cook and use to explore the outdoors for many years to come.”

St Francis Special School in Fareham, Hampshire has received a £9,180 for a series of dance and music workshops. The aim of the workshops is to bring together disabled and non-disabled pupils from local schools.

Residents in sheltered housing schemes will learn gardening skills and how to grow their own food in Newbury, Berkshire. Sovereign Housing Association Ltd received £9,958 to help residents become less isolated and improve their wellbeing.

If you have a community project which is looking for a small grant, visit our Awards for All website to see how easy it is to apply. We offer grants from £300 up to £10,000 to voluntary or community organisations, schools, health bodies and town or parish councils. Our aim is to help improve local communities and the lives of people most in need.

Village SOS road show continues

As you know our Village SOS initiative aims to start a rural revival. We want to inspire people to start community businesses that will breathe new life into their areas and create jobs.

Following on from the Village SOS TV series last year, we held road shows across the country including one in Brighton in December to give rural communities expert advice in starting up their own business.

In early summer we will be holding another road show in Oxfordshire which will focus on what communities should do after they set up their project to ensure it stays on track and becomes a success. Once the date is announced you will be able to book your place on the Village SOS website.

In the meantime, if you are looking for inspiration, help and support to get your community idea off the ground join us at the Village SOS National Conference in Birmingham on Monday 27 February 2012. Places on this high profile event are free so book your place now.

For those of you who cannot make it to an event, we recommend that you visit the Village SOS website. There is a wealth of information about enterprises including business essentials, case studies and forums where you can speak to other villages and enterprises.

If you want bespoke guidance about setting up a local enterprise you can call the Village SOS advice line 0845 434 9123. They offer advice on everything from buying your local pub to setting up community shares.

Other news

Developing a new investment in young people

We are looking for a group of motivated 16-25 year olds to help develop an investment that will benefit young people in England.

In 2012 and 2013 we plan to invest money in ideas that will inspire young people in need to build on their strengths and make a difference to their lives and communities. So we are recruiting young people aged 16-25 with a range of skills, backgrounds and experience to help us do this.

For information on how to apply visit our website

Evaluation of BIG’s Children’s Play Programme

Since 2006 the Children’s Play programme has committed £123 million to create, improve and develop children and young people’s free local play spaces in England. The projects aimed to promote the ‘three frees’:

• Free of charge
• Free to choose
• Free to come and go

BIG commissioned Ecorys to assess how effective the programme had been at widening access to play. The full evaluation report is available on the BIG website.

Reminder: 31 January deadline for Communities Living Sustainably

Groups have until Tuesday 31 January 2012 to submit an expression of interest for the Communities Living Sustainably programme.

Ten communities will receive up to £1million to build sustainable and resilient communities to help deal with the potential impact of climate change. These communities will be expected to provide inspiration and share their learning with other communities across England.

For more information visit our website

BRE: extra round of capital funding

BRE’s Community Sustainable Energy Programme (CSEP) has opened for one more capital funding round. Applications will be accepted for heat generating technologies and energy efficiency measures only. The deadline for completed applications is 5pm Friday 29 February 2012.  For more information visit the CSEP website.

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